ANALYSIS OF EXISTING ENERGY INSTALLATIONS FOR ULTRAVIOLET DISINFECTION OF RECIRCULATING NUTRIENT SOLUTION IN SYSTEMS OF CROPS AUTOMATIC HYDROPONIC IRRIGATION IN PROTECTED GROUND

Decisive for solving food security problems in Ukraine while preserving and restoring the ecology of the environment should be an intensive method of management, i.e. the orientation  of  economic entities of their own activities on the innovative type of development, active use of scientific and technical developments and implementation of modern agricultural innovations. In its turn, the qualitative and quantitative indicators of crop production of protected soil depend on the technical condition of technological equipment. The purpose of the work is research and analysis of existing power plants for ultraviolet disinfection of recirculating nutrient solution in systems of automatic hydroponic irrigation of crops in a protected soil, as well as elucidation of the impact of filtration and  disinfection  of  nutrient solution on  the presence of microorganisms when reusing plants in systems. The paper  investigates  the  ways  to improve the operation of power plants for ultraviolet disinfection of  recirculating  nutrient solution in the cultivation of crop products of protected soil. It provides the value of the required radiation dose for 90% disinfection of the  recirculation  solution  from  various  bacteria,  viruses  and  fungal  spores and the dependence of  bactericidal  efficiency on  the  wavelength  of  light. Ultraviolet rays  with  a length from 200  to 280 nm (UV-C  range) have  the  most pronounced bactericidal  effect. Research  in this area has shown that the optimal wavelength for irradiation is 253.7 nm. As a result of such irradiation, microorganisms die or lose their  ability  to  reproduce.  It has  been  proven  that  the classical layout scheme of power plants for ultraviolet disinfection of the recirculation solution is inefficient, because it does not rid the recirculation solution of turbidity and the presence of iron and does not guarantee high efficiency of the ultraviolet disinfection  plants.  The  paper  describes  the method of carbonate precipitation of metal ions, which is based on the formation of insoluble metal compounds as a result of treatment of an aqueous solution with carbonates or bicarbonates of alkali metals. Prospects for further research are the development of methods and tools to improve  the operation of power plants for ultraviolet disinfection of recirculating  nutrient  solution  in  the cultivation of crop products of protected soil.